Civil Rights In Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims [Paperback]

Elaine C. Hagopian (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0745322646 | ISBN-13: 978-0745322643 | Publication Date: June 1, 2004

Muslims and Arab-Americans are increasingly under attack as a result of the US 'war on terror' - at home, as well as abroad. Since the tragic events of September 11, Arab and Muslim Americans have faced a major assault on their civil liberties. While targeting vulnerable groups and drawing on racist stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims, these measures threaten millions of people, including immigrants, activists, trade unionists, academics, writers, and anyone who the government wishes to define as a 'threat' to national security. The Patriot Act and new immigration laws primarily aimed at Muslims and Arabs have greatly expanded federal powers and eroded longstanding civil liberties. The US government has used its expanded powers to detain, deport, and try individuals, at times without access to lawyers or full disclosure of evidence and charges used against them. Civil Rights in Peril seeks to expose the impact of these new governmental powers on Muslims and Arabs, as well as other groups and individuals targeted as part of the Bush administration's 'war on terror', and to show how ordinary people can resist these attacks on our fundamental rights. This powerful anthology, edited by the well-known scholar and activist Elaine Hagopian, includes essays by Samih Farsoun, Naseer Aruri, Susan Akram, Nancy Murray, Robert Morlino and William Youmans.

Editorial Reviews

Review

That Arabs and Muslims would be fair game for harassment and persecution by successive U.S. Administrations should come as no surprise given the global projection of U.S. power, the role of Israel in U.S. domestic politics, and the weakness of most post-colonial Muslim societies. Civil Rights in Peril: Targeting Arabs and Muslims is an important contribution to understanding the domestic side effects of the need for a foreign bogeyman after the dissolution of that other "Evil Empire", the Soviet Union. Of course, this also fits in nicely with the agenda of the Israel Uber Alles elements. The essays in this volume help us to understand the matrix of the new American juggernaut and its impact on the lives of ordinary people. Thankfully, it joins a growing body of critical analysis that is connecting the proverbial dots about the new face of American hegemonism. -- Abdeen Jabara, Civil Rights Attorney, Past President, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Elaine Hagopian, one of the country's most respected analysts of Middle East affairs, has brought together a group of astute commentators, who give us a refreshingly critical view of the current demonization of Muslims and Arabs. What she and the others make clear is the deadly connection between this phenomenon and U.S. behavior in the Middle East. -- Howard Zinn Since September 11, US media and popular culture have treated Arabs and Muslims as fanatics, terrorists, and suspects; this volume treats them as human beings. All those who want documentation and substantiation of the erosion of civil liberties in this country, should read this book. The forgotten victims of September 11 are the Arabs and Muslims in the US, whose rights have been curtailed, and activities monitored, and charities closed down or suppressed. This volume tells their story. The volume is an excellent contribution to the ignored facets of US wars on terrorism; those wars are also fought in US cities and towns, mostly targeting Arabs and Muslims. This is a much needed study of the status of Arabs/Muslim in the US in the wake of September 11, and its subsequent suppression of civil rights and liberties, especially among Arabs and Muslims. -- As'ad AbuKhalil, Dept. of Politics, California State University

About the Author

Elaine C. Hagopian is Professor Emerita of Sociology, Simmons College, Boston.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745322646
• ISBN-13: 978-0745322643
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,986,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable analysis, August 5, 2005

By 

John Green (Hayward CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Civil Rights In Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims (Paperback)

To the list of casualties in America's so-called war on terror must be added the civil rights of Arabs and Muslims living in the United States. Boosted by the tragedies of 9/11, neoconservatives in and around the government have pursued a zealous strategy of curtailing everyone's civil liberties and broadcasting stereotypes of violence-prone Islam.

The contributors to Civil Rights in Peril provide a sound, political analysis of the post-9/11 backlash that could not be more timely. They explain that the relationship between the attacks on the rights of Arabs and Muslims living in America and aggressive U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East go hand-in-hand, propelled by deeply conservative supporters of Israel. (See any recent piece by Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson or Michael Savage if you need convincing about the flourishing of prejudice going on right now or the convergence of racism and empire-boosting.)

Robert Morlino's essay on the American media deserves to be widely reproduced and read in classrooms and community groups. His chapter and others cast a needed light on the corporate media's contribution to a climate of fear and hatred in the United States. Furthermore, this book shows the extent to which secular and religious Zionists are able to manipulate the media to both broadcast their message and portray themselves as victims of a liberal, anti-Israel conspiracy.

Yet the well-documented, insightful analysis of Civil Rights in Peril on the trends and conflicts within the elite political establishment is marred by a failure to look beyond this narrow, though powerful section of the population. This is a case of missing the forest for the trees, whether it is Naseer Aruri rightly (and intelligently) decrying preventative, unilateralist war but not U.S. wars in general on Third World countries or Elaine Hagopian's condemnation of U.S./Israel manipulation of the United Nations without looking for factors beyond the UN in resolving the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This sometimes too narrow, wonkish focus cedes the parameters of the debate to the status quo and accounts for, I think, the mostly absent discussion of resistance to empire, at home and aboard.

That said, its no wonder to me why this book received the prestigious Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for advancing human rights and opposing bigotry in the United States. Hagopian and her colleagues have given us a trenchant critique of the repression of Muslims and Arabs and the co-called war on terror. The onus is now on the reader to stand up to empire, organize and challenge the neocons in their efforts to demonize and deport our brothers and sisters.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I know this is supposed to be a review..., January 25, 2005

By 

AIA - See all my reviews

This review is from: Civil Rights In Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims (Hardcover)

BUT, I could not help but respond to Mr. Kents comments.

Civil Rights is for everybody regardless of whether you come from a country ruled by a Dictatorship or not.

Or are you saying Mr. Kent that people from countries that abuse Civil liberties do not deserve Civil liberties in a country that claims to be free.

You must have missed the point of the entire book and your statements show your Ignorance of the world issues.

Regardless of where anyone is from we are all human beings and deserve to be treated with dignity.

5.0 out of 5 stars A SOMETIMES DISTURBING REPORT ON THE "SECURITY" AFTERMATH OF 9/11, November 23, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Civil Rights In Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims (Paperback)

Editor Elaine G. Hagopian is a scholar and activist. This 2004 publication by the Trans-Arab research Institute contains eight essays (plus a Preface by Ms. Hagopian) about legislation (Pre- and Post-9/11) affecting civil liberties; racist images of Arabs and Muslims; the "Criminalization of Arab and Muslim Communities," etc.

She writes in the Preface, "This book analyzes the way that the demonization of Arab and Muslim communities facilitates the legal, political, and social diminution of their civil and human rights... The intention of this volume is to lay bare the interplay of domestic and foreign policy that must be understood if we are to reverse the dangerous course on which the nation is embarked and restore rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 some twelve hundred people, most of them Arab, South Asian, and Muslim citizens and noncitizens, were arrested and questioned ... Of this number, 762 noncitizens were placed on the 'INS Custody List' ... Not one of these 'special interest' detainees held in connection with the PENTTBOM investigation has been linked to the September 11 attacks." (Pg. 31)
"Most of the detainees were charged with civil violations of immigration law, such as overstaying a visa or entering without inspection or with invalid documents, which enabled the Justice Department to dispense entirely with criminal justice safeguards." (Pg. 33)
"The formula of security at all costs---even at the expense of minority groups and foreign populations---is borrowed from Israel, the network's primary model and ally." (Pg. 115)